MRC National Institute for Medical Research, London
Science for Health
NIMR participates in TB systems biology project
30 March 2010
Tuberculosis (TB) has been killing people for thousands of years and is still one of the world's most devastating infectious diseases. Douglas Young, in NIMR's Division of Mycobacterial Research, is participating in a new European project to help tackle this problem. The SysteMTb project will bring together a team of thirteen European laboratories in an attempt to better understand this killer disease by taking a systems biology approach.
The project will look at how Mycobacterium tuberculosis survives both inside and outside our cells and how it attacks our immune system. The project has been awarded more than 10 million Euros from the European Commission under the 7th Framework Programme. SysteMTb will bring together experts in tuberculosis with experts in cutting-edge technologies and systems biology. Participants are spread across nine European countries, coordinated by the Center for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona.
This is an exciting and timely initiative. Understanding of Mycobacterium tuberculosis at the systems level will provide the fundamental platform that is required for rational development of improved tools for disease control.
Douglas Young
The project will bring together for the first time international experts from different fields: from the classical biology of mycobacterium to cutting-edge high throughput technologies, “omics”, and mathematical modelling.
Luis Serrano, project coordinator, Centre for Genomic Regulation, Barcelona
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